Following surgery, patients who have had a surgical construction of an artificial excretory opening such as ileostomy or colostomy patients use ileostomy/colostomy bags (collectively referred to as ostomy bags) to collect bodily waste materials. These bodily waste materials include gases, liquids and solids. The waste material may be semi-solid faecal waste. It is desirable in any event to dispose the collected materials with minimal handling from the user. It is also desirable to avoid undesired smell to escape from the ostomy bag when it is detached from the patient after use and before being disposed.
Some bags are intended for multiple use purposes and generally the surgical patients find that they have to empty the collection bag many times during the day. A given collection bag is thus fitted with waste discharge outlet through which the waste materials collected from the artificial excretory opening can be discharged. It is not unusual to empty these bags between six and ten times in any given day. A collection bag will typically be worn for a number of consecutive days before being replaced with a new bag. Given the nature of the materials which they collect, such collection bags are generally made of plastics materials.
One commercial toilet flushable pouch (similar to the device described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,647) is available from Welland Medical Limited in the UK. Their product is an inner liner pouch which is designed to fit within the bag worn by the user. The pouch is designed and arranged to collect the bodily waste materials and provide a barrier between those materials and the bag. None of the bodily waste materials therefore comes into direct contact with the inner of the bag. Additionally, the bodily waste materials can be removed by removing the inner pouch without contamination of the bag. This means however that the inner pouch must be of a relatively complex design as it must be adapted to fit to the artificial opening of the body in the same way as the collection bag. This is necessary in order to avoid contamination of the collection bag with bodily waste material.
U.S.2003023210A1 discloses an ostomy pouch and an insert defining an interior volume. The insert is configured for positioning within the ostomy pouch and can define a pair of handles, a pair of pleated side panels, or a pair of handles and a pair of pleated side panels.
WO05082272A2 discloses an ostomy appliance comprising a receiving member and a disposable bag liner. Furthermore WO05082272A2 discloses a bag being compacted lengthwise while twisting a bottom part in relation to a rim and a method of compacting the same.
Various disposable ostomy bags have been disclosed in the prior art. Meanwhile, none of these are equipped with means for simple closing and sealing the contents of the bags before disposal. Moreover, the prior art does not disclose an ostomy bag equipped with means for simple closing and sealing of the contents of the bag and which means can maintain the seal after the bag has been detached from the body of the patient thereby reducing the risk of escaping odour or soiling of the clothing by dripping output from the stoma.
In general the containers and methods of disposal of the prior art are not convenient for the end user and are generally difficult to carry around.
The inventors have now devised improvements to such disposal receptacles.